Sunday, March 26, 2017

PENNSYLVANIA -- Three Easton people charged with decapitating one pit bull, cutting another in half and dumping the carcasses on railroad tracks didn't kill or dump the dogs, according to a prosecutor.

Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Richard Pepper said Michelle Lorish, Brandy Pfeiffer and Jeff Paul Everitt "set in motion events" that led to the dogs' death and disposal but weren't guilty of killing them or disposing of them.

Pepper said Everitt passed a convincing lie detector test. After that, he and the women provided police "additional information" that shed light on the crime.

Pepper wouldn't divulge the information but said it possibly concerns others involved in the crime.

"We may proceed in a different direction as a result of this information," he said Friday.

Whoever beat these dogs to death needs to be charged.

As a result, he let Pfeiffer and Lorish withdraw their no-contest pleas to conspiring to commit animal cruelty. Each of the three pleaded guilty to obstruction of highways, a summary offense. Judge Craig Dally fined each of them $100.

"In good conscience, I couldn't go forward with this prosecution on the charges as they currently existed," Pepper said.

Someone allegedly beat the dogs over the head, then dumped them on railroad tracks in Lower Saucon Township to make it look like they had been killed by a train.

The dogs were found dead Dec. 5, 2015, near Riverside Drive and Redington Road. One had a severed head and the other was cut in half. A necropsy proved each dog died from head injuries.

Lorish, 37, of the first block of North Warren Street, previously told police she owned the dogs and wanted them disposed of. Pfeiffer, 41, and Everitt, 45, live together in the 1100 block of Ferry Street.

Had the dogs been euthanized lawfully, no one would have been charged, Pepper said.